«I JUST READ EVERYTHING»

And there's so much more. The global environmental consequences of Chinese industrialization are troubling, the apparent determination of China to play strategic mercantilist games with key natural resources is provocative, and the difficulty, historically speaking, that reigning great powers have often encountered when coming to terms with rising contenders is unsettling. The world is being remade before our eyes, and massive transitions are never easy. And yet the sight of hundreds of millions of people emerging from backbreaking poverty and joining the party that the West has been throwing ever since the Industrial Revolution is an amazing, inspiring triumph. China's had a hard couple of centuries -- but finally, nearly a quarter of the world's population is in the middle of a major status upgrade. It's long overdue, and the contributions to science and literature and art that will be made by these newly affluent billions is something that we should be excited about, instead of fearful.

-Salon
Nov 8 2010